The Evolution of Tails
by Illorion
Summary: Set after SA1 Tails promised himself that he would not rely on Sonic anymore, that he would depend on himself from now on. It's how he was going to accomplish that that has eluded him.


The Evolution of Tails  
  
He had vowed that he would stop living in his shadow, that he would stop depending on him. He had the determination, he had the heart, he had the will. It was the how that seemed to elude him. How was he going to break himself from using the blue blur as a crutch.  
Tails sat on the coach in his workshop, his knees drawn up to his chest, his tails wrapped around his body. His eyes were the absolute reflection of deep thought. He knew what he needed to do, but how he was going to do it was his dilemma. He boosted one of the most advance scientific minds at a mere ten years old. However unless he wanted to play god there was no way to use his knowledge of science to forge his independence.  
His dilemma went a little something like this. The reason for a certain blue hedgehog being the greatest hero of all time was because of his speed, an ability that came from his body naturally, almost like a superpower. Tails however possessed no such ability. Yes he could fly, but it served no real heroic purpose, just mostly convenience for himself. Once in a while it came in handy when saving the world, but for the most part it came more to the assistance of Sonic rather then himself. He needed some type of ability, something that could help him be as strong as Sonic.  
He had been deliberating this very problem for the last five months. Yet, still he has come up with absolutely nothing. He thought about self- enhancement, but the only safe way to do that would be by using robotics. That was not an option for obvious reasons. His knowledge of chemistry was limited, but he knew enough that to try any type of chemical upgrade would be highly dangerous, possibly deadly.  
Tails decided that some fresh air would do him some good; maybe the answer would come to him instead of him looking for it. Tails left his workshop in the mystic ruins, walking down the stone steps. He let his mind wander to memories of old, fighting Dr. Robotnik on Mobius with Princess Sally and the freedom fighters. That was before the evil doctor decided to give up, he gave up the planet Mobius, the freedom fighters had won. The soon learned that their victory was short lived, soon they learned that Dr. Robotnik had indeed left Mobius, only to try to set up his empire on a new planet, a planet called Earth. So they left the freedom fighters and the planet Mobius in the care of Princess Sally and, using the power of the chaos and master emeralds on the floating island, followed Dr. Robotnik to this strange new planet. They arrived to find that Dr. Robotnik had now changed his name to Dr. Eggman (Tails still marveled on the logic that lead the fine doctor to believe that Eggman would strike fear into the hearts of millions). However, even with the new name, he was still up to the same evil. So Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and a few new friends that had joined the freedom fighters late in the war, were called in once again to foil said doctor. As usual they succeeded, which left Tails in his current predicament.  
Tails was brought off memory lane by the arrival of the speed king himself; the far off boom was a sure sign. Tails straightened himself out and waited patiently, of course he didn't have to wait long as less then 2 seconds later the blue blur screeched to a stop in front of him, kicking up a huge dust cloud that Tails was well used to by now.  
"Hey little buddy what's up," Sonic chirped in his usual cheery tone.  
"Not much Sonic, how about you," Tails lied, how could you tell someone that your goal in life at the moment was to surpass them.  
"Always on the move as usual, at the moment I got purpose though, it's two o' clock and you know what that means." Two o' clock was chili dog time, a fact well know to any friend of Sonic's, and any chili dog vender I the whole of station square.  
"That I do Sonic, but i'm not hungry at the moment, maybe some other time," Tails time with Sonic had caused him to develop almost a psychic link into the hedgehog's brain. Tails truly knew Sonic better then he knew himself, much to the amusement of anyone on the outside looking in.  
"Sure thing little buddy, but if you change your mind you'll know were to find me," replied Sonic.  
"Sure do Sonic, I'll just follow my nose," mused Tails as he touched his nose and chuckled.  
Sonic to cracked a smile and then, with a wave, was off with the trademark boom that followed him all his life.  
Tails sighed and continued his trek down the trail to the mystic woods, one of his favorite places to think. He let himself slip into his thoughts once again, walking down memory lane a little farther and letting his mind ponder his dilemma. He kept walking on unaware of were exactly he was going, he ventured into parts of the woods that he had not been before, completely unaware due to his distraction. His mind was brought back once again to reality when he came upon an old and somewhat decrepit looking hut. He had not seen this here before, by the looks of it though it must have been abandoned. Once he walked around the outside and made it to the front, however, he discovered that he was in fact, wrong.  
Sitting on the front porch was an old man, no, old did not do him enough justice, timeless was a better word. This man looked like he had seen more days then the Earth itself. He was sitting in a rocker with his back facing away from Tails, humming, staring out into the sea that was close by. He abruptly stopped rocking once Tails came a little closer though, and spoke; his voice was rich and full, wisdom cracking in every syllable.  
"Welcome young one, it seems that you have finally made it to me." The old man spoke in an even tone, laughter was evident in his voice though.  
Tails was taken back for obvious reasons, how had this man known, not only that he was there, but his age.  
"Shocked a little I see, well let me compound that shock for you, I have what you seek." The man chuckled afterwards at the gasp that escaped Tails mouth. What was this man, perhaps some trap laid for him by the doctor, or maybe a figure of his imagination.  
"Well don't just stand there staring, it's rude, come in front of me and introduce yourself, and stop worrying I'm a bit to old to be excepting employment from people such as Eggman," Tails was once again shocked, but somewhere in his mind he knew that he was in for a whole lot more shocks before the day was over.  
Tails walked around the front of the porch, keeping a wary eye on this old human, making absolutely sure that he wouldn't try anything, he had had enough of getting kidnapped to be used as ransom for Sonic, another reason for his need to separate himself.  
"H-Hello I'm Tails," spoke Tails nervously, then as an afterthought, "N-Nice to meet you."  
The old man chuckled at this, then let his eyes fall on the young fox's extra appendage.  
"Well, that's much better, Tail's huh, I can see why," the old man mused, "my name is Gene, just Gene is fine, now that were aren't strangers anymore you can loosen up a little, kind of hard to train a high strung pupil."  
"T-Train, what do you mean by train?" questioned Tails, truly intrigued now.  
"Just what I said, I know what you seek and I know why you seek it, a very noble reason might I add, so I have decided to train you, I have been expecting you, you could say." The old man watched as Tails contemplated this, deciding on what exactly he should say next, the old man was really starting to confuse him now, but he decided that he might as well follow the next logical step and wait to answer his own questions once he had more to work with.  
"What exactly is it that I will be trained in," was Tails' question, might as well run with this, just to see were it's going.  
"A form of martial arts is the closest thing that I can think to compare it as, however it is much much more than that, it doesn't really have a name so don't bother to ask, names are not really important anyway, just a label if you ask me." The old man explained, a slight twinkle in his eye.  
"So let me get this straight you want to teach me a form of martial arts that has no name and that's supposed to give me the skill that I seek," annoyance and disappointment were clear in his tone.  
"Precisely, however if it makes you feel better your more then welcome to name it if you want," laughter once again clear in his tone.  
Tails was less enthusiastic though, "I don't think that martial arts can help me Mr. Gene, but thank you anyway," Tails said in a sigh.  
Gene merely grunted, "young people know a days can't ever believe anything without seeing it with there own eyes, but I expected this."  
Gene hoisted himself out of his chair, his old joints creaking in protest, he stood and stretched, Tails' winced as he was sure that bones were not supposed to crack that much. Gene sighed when he finished his stretch, he stepped of his porch and walked a few steps out onto his "lawn" I guess you could call it, motioning Tails' to follow.  
"Well lets just get this over with shall we," Tails' was truly bewildered now, "stand over there by that tree. Gene pointed to a tree about 10 yards away, Tails complied his child curiosity taking over.  
Gene reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, he shook it out and proceeded to wrap it around his eyes, tying in the back.  
"Ok tails now pick up one of those rocks close by you," Gene requested, his voice showing slight impatience but mostly boredom. Tails had shifted into his obedient child mode, and once again complied, picking up a small rock by his foot. He held in his hand and was about to let the old man know that he was ready for his next set of instructions but was cut of when he spoke again.  
"Alright now throw it at me," the old man stated plainly.  
Tails was taken back, that was shock number three.  
"W-What I'm not gonna throw this at you are you crazy," Tails replied, convinced that this old man was off his rocker.  
"Tails just throw the damn rock already," the old man demanded. When Tails still failed to make a move the old man decided that he would need a little more convincing.  
"Stop being such a weak cowered and throw the rock," that did it.  
"Fine old man," Tails spoke back, feeling insulted, "but if you get hurt it's not my fault."  
Still feeling apprehension about the whole situation however, Tails feebly underhanded the rock toward the old man. This however brought a scowl from the old man and he smacked the rock headed for his chest and sent it thumping on the ground. Tails, of course, was shocked none-the- less, how could he have seen that.  
"Tails, I'm not quite sure if that was infact your definition of throwing something but it certainly was not mine, now get another rock and for the love of the god throw it," the old man was losing his patience now.  
  
Tails had given up, if the old man wanted it fine let him have it. With that thought Tails picked up another small rock and hurled it at the old mans head, the old man just smiled though and smacked it away. Tails was completely dumfounded now.  
"Well don't stop there, keep going," chuckled the old man. Tails immediately complied eager to see the spectacle again. He hurled rocks at the old man as fast as he could but none of them even came close to hitting him. He was smacking the every which way and making it look extremely easy along the way. Tails got and idea though, he smiled at his craftiness. He gathered two handfuls of rocks and hurled them all at once at the old man, 'lets see if he can sprout extra arms' chuckled Tails mentally. The old man simple smiled and held out one hand. Tails jaw dropped to the floor, the rocks had slowed and then stopped completely in front of the old man, inches before they hit. Then, much to Tails dismay, the all came flying back at him, he spun quickly and covered is head. He yelped in pain as one of the rocks hit him in the back. He lowered his arms and turned to stare at the old man wide eyed. The old man simple chuckled and proceeded to walk slowly towards his house.  
"Come inside and have some tea, I suppose that your gonna want some explanations."  
Tails collected his jaw and fell in behind the old man, eager to hear what exactly had just happened.  
  
Well what do you think, any good? If you like please RR, with a good response I will continue with the story, if not then there really is no need to continue. 


End file.
